A government can only rule when it has the confidence of the rakyat (people). This confidence is represented through its representatives, in Perak’s case, its state assemblymen. In this case, it appears that Barisan Nasional has got a slim majority of confidence in terms of its elected representatives.

However, if a government has lost the confidence of the rakyat, but still has the confidence of its legislative assembly, then it is the Sultan’s (roughly translated to King) job to dissolve the state assembly to correct the misrepresentation in the assembly and seek a new mandate from the people.

And this is the case in Perak, namely because:

- The Election Commission (EC) acted outside its jurisdiction when it refused to call by elections in the 2 vacated seats. The EC has no say in whether an election should be called or not, regardless of whether the resignation was genuine or not. As far as the EC is concerned, if the speaker submitted two fake letters of resignation (which is not the case here), the EC would have to carry out elections, while the two ‘fake-ly resigned’ representatives have the option of getting a court order to stop the by-elections. Legally, these two seats are vacant, because the speaker has said so, and no court has ruled otherwise, regardless of EC’s position. I reiterate, the EC has no jurisdiction in deciding whether a seat is empty or not; that is the speaker’s job. And hence, from a legal perspective, these two seats are classified VACANT. [read more]